Perry shrugged off the criticism and appeared flummoxed by the attention to the address.

"I've probably given 1,000 speeches. There are some that have been probably boring, some that have been animated, some that have been in between," he said.

But "ask the people who were there," he said, "not some political opponent who has put a video up. The people there were responding to the speech ... clapping at all the right places - and there was a standing ovation at the end."

Responding to the suggestions by some political observers that the animated Perry may have been on pain medication for his past back surgery, the governor said: "No. I was just giving a speech."